


does it almost feel like

by gnx (LiesArePartiallyTrue)



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Queer Themes, and we all know toa is a lying bitch who lies, bc i'm fuzzy on all canon except for toa, this is set in one of those semi-canon post-war limbos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 11:20:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15508833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiesArePartiallyTrue/pseuds/gnx
Summary: They tease. They've teased before.





	does it almost feel like

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [cafuné](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14075385) by [aelescribe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aelescribe/pseuds/aelescribe). 



> inspired by aelescribe's work <3 (exhibit c in particular)
> 
> this line in their fic made me think abt queer friendships and how they usually teeter the platonic edge (or at least mine do?) and i wanted to explore these two's queer friendship ~~esp since they're also queer for each other~~

 

 

After the war, for a while, everything is quiet. It's like the whole world has suddenly skittered to a stop and it's now slowly picking itself back up.

 

Normally, as soon as the final battle’s over, Nico would be on his way to the Underworld to hide out in his room in Hades’ palace, tearing his palms apart as he digs his nails in his flesh, trying to keep the nightmares at bay because he doesn't have the option of brainlessly chasing monsters anymore.

 

But this time, people care whether Nico stays or goes. There’s Hazel now, and Frank and Reyna, and Jason, who wouldn't take no for an answer when he asked Nico to stay at camp with him and Piper. Through means of extreme pestering, which vaguely and somewhat painfully remind Nico of Valdez, he gets Nico to consider it, and then all he says is _I’ll need you when I start building. You'd be a great help,_ and Nico goes once, goes twice, and is sold.

 

He tries not to analyze his reasoning too much. All he knows is that Jason made him feel needed, _wanted,_ something other than a burden, and that his heart is fluttering like a bird in his ribcage as consequence.

 

Now the months roll off Nico's shoulders almost without him noticing, along with each anxiety Jason manages to ease.

 

He spends his time IMing hazel in Camp Jupiter, listening to her learn to be happy with Frank, who treats her well and makes her glow with joy when she speaks of him. Which is great, because otherwise Nico would’ve had to use the big-brother Hades-kid card to give him the shovel talk – uh, pun not intended.

 

He talks to Reyna, who's become another sister to him. She lets him play with her dogs and braids his hair, which is long overdue for a cut, but Nico doesn’t really want one. It’s messy, but Nico sort of likes seeing the strands out of the corner of his eye and the subtle curls framing his face.

 

All the other time, he spends with Jason, who’s overwhelmingly busy being Pontifex Maximus, but it just makes him a contagious kind of happy. Every day, he settles more and more into his skin, now that no one expects him to be perfect and a leader all the time. It makes him carry himself with more confidence than before and a lot less rigidness, which only serves to amplify the appeal of authority he’s always worn like a favorite jacket.

 

He pours over architectural plans with Annabeth over IMs because she's off to college in New York with Percy. After she fixes his original sketches and gives him little tidbits of information to include, Jason comes straight to Cabin 13.

 

He lets Nico get excited over interior design and lesser gods without laughing at him once. Then they pick it up -

 

\- “I'm not letting you carry me like a sack of potatoes in the air, Grace, we're shadowtravelling and that's that!” -

 

\- and they run all over California, building shrines and temples wherever they're needed. Jason, it turns out, has a knack for choosing places where the Mist has a strong presence.

 

It goes like this: Nico breaks open the earth, reveling in how Jason never flinches from him when he does, and a dozen skeletons worm out, old construction work overalls hanging from their bones. Jason flies overhead, giving directions, and Nico relays them to the skeletons.

 

Ordering the dead to reposition bricks and install fountains is probably making Hades roll in the proverbial grave (ha ha, Nico is a comedian), crying about wasted potential, but it leaves Nico pleasantly exhausted every time. He feels giddy with the knowledge that he's using his powers with no restraint, letting death surge through him, only this time for the sake of something _good_.

 

He's never been this happy, even when his neck screams at him to abandon ship because he got a crick from watching Jason wave his hands high up in the sky and trying to decipher whether he means _a little to the left_ or _no, leave it as it is._ He ends up spending more time laughing that he ever has before, bubbles of oxygen filling up his throat and head, making him overspill with joy and euphoria.

 

Jason makes sure they take breaks back at camp, as well, between projects, makes Nico rest if he looks too tired. Nico mocks him relentlessly for being such a mother hen, but he's secretly pleased - Jason isn’t forcing guilt or cornering Nico, which is what Will Solace does every time he’s trying to be cute.

 

They talk, perched on the stairs of cabin 13, for hours, about nonsensical stuff -

 

\- “What do you mean, you've never played Mythomagic?”

 

“Uh, I was a little busy growing up in a wolf pack, remember? Besides, didn't you say it was all about the _Gr_ _eek_ gods?” -

 

\- until Nico manages to force out the things that he actually needs to get off his chest.

 

It goes to Nico's head, though he tries not to let it. Jason, with his laser-focus and his warm blanket affection and dorky glasses, Jason and his blue, blue eyes and gold hair, is firmly, decidedly not an option.

 

Nico viciously stomps down any wayward feelings lurking in his chest, because he's only just gotten the hang of having friends and Jason's his best one. Nico won't let himself ruin what they've built.

 

It's hard to keep reminding himself when every day he notices something new that's stupidly mundane but looks extremely good when Jason's doing it, like when he smiles and the corner of his lips crooks a little because of the scar going through. Sometimes all it takes for Nico to forget all about restraint in a moment is the light shifting in the evening, playing color-coded games in Jason's hair, off the angle of his jaw.

 

But Jason's in a relationship, if maybe not a particularly happy one right now, and he's also _straight_ and _unattainable_. Even if he somehow wasn't, Nico likes Piper way too much to do that to her.

 

Which is why, of course, 5 or 6 months in, the fates decide to mess with Nico's life.

 

The impossible happens: Jason and Piper split up. Nico tries to never paint Jason with the same brush as other people, or force him into a 'golden boy'-shaped box because he knows Jason hates that, but he can't help his surprise. He genuinely believed Jason and Piper would be the next Percy and Annabeth.

 

And the wonders don't cease, because Jason listens to Nico ramble for half an hour without saying anything one night at the Zeus table at dinner, before blurting out, “I like guys too!”

 

Nico chokes on whatever he was going to say and zeroes in on Jason. He can literally feel his eyes go wide as saucers.

 

“Sorry, what?”

 

“I swear, I'm not making fun of you!”

 

It absolutely does not make Nico warm all over that Jason knows to soothe his initial reactions so instinctively by now.

 

“I'm not. Just- me and Piper talked, you know, before we, uhm-”

 

“Is that why you broke up?”

 

“Yes and no? She said she might be more attracted to women anyway? But we agreed it wasn't working out for other reasons.” he gestures to his forehead. Nico doesn't let himself be distracted by the soft glow of his hair in the fire light. “Hera, you know? Not a healthy way to start a relationship.”

 

Nico nods dumbly.

 

“Anyway, I, uh. I talked to some of the other Aphrodite kids. I think I might be something called demisexual?”

 

Nico blinks. A year or two ago he didn't even know there was a name for people like him, let alone multiple ones.

 

“It's where you don't feel romantic or uhm, or sexual attraction to people unless there's a strong emotional connection first,” Jason picks up confidence. “That's why me and Piper weren't working out. I mean, she's amazing, don't get me wrong, but- starting an intimate relationship on false pretenses just doesn't do all that well for me.”

 

Nico stares for a long minute. “That means- you're like me?”

 

Jason grins at him and then Nico finds himself enveloped in a huge, warm hug, the likes of which he’ll never admit to loving.

 

 

After that, there’s a subtle shit in their friendship, like tectonic plates aligning under the surface. It brings them closer, Nico thinks, but it also takes their humor on a different level.

 

He can only describe it as teasing, because _flirting_ makes his cheeks flush and it’s a lot harder now to exercise restraint on his heart when Jason’s not so firmly unattainable.

 

 

Exhibit A:

 

They’re sparring one day and the sun is beating down on them harshly. Jason's shirt has found its way off his body and is wound up around his neck. When he moves, Nico can see every muscle pull, every inch of tantalizing skin and scar texture.

 

Before, he would be averting his eyes as much as possible, trying not to stare at Jason’s sweat-slick hair falling over the rim of his glasses, but now it goes like this:

 

“Like what you see, Neeks?” Jason’s saying, smug and dorky all at once, his pecs jumping up when he moves in a different position.

 

Nico’s sputtering and then laughing, releasing snorts Jason never seems to mind. Then he’s responding with, “Stop fishing for compliments.” and Jason laughs so hard he misses Nico swing his sword and win the round.

 

Exhibit B:

 

Nico’s hair is dirty and he doesn’t have time to wash it before he has to meet with Jason, so he just puts it in a ponytail. It’s hanging around his shoulders these days, long enough to pull up.

 

When Jason sees him, he just stares a little. Nico doesn’t think he imagines the brush of color on Jason’s cheeks.

 

“Your hair looks good like that,” he says, expression unreadable, but his eyes are dark in a way that makes Nico’s stomach flip.

 

 

Exhibit C:

 

They’re sketching a shrine project in Jason’s cabin because it’s cooler than outside. Somehow, they’ve shifted so much on the bed Nico is now halfway in Jason’s lap, pointing at the page to add in minor adjustments to design. His head is propped on Jason’s nice, firm shoulder, and Jason’s hand is gently playing in his hair. When Jason leans forward to sketch in a minute detail, Nico’s nose presses in the curve of Jason’s neck and a smell of something masculine, minty, morning air cold, envelops him. He doesn’t move away. Jason shivers when Nico’s breath hits his skin, but he doesn’t say anything.

 

 

It makes Nico crazy, pent up emotion swirling in his body, because Jason’s playing right into Nico’s utmost desires without letting him know if it’s friendship he wants out of Nico, or something different. Because Nico loves being Jason’s friend and he’d never give it up, but the thought of getting to be his best friend and his boyfriend all at once makes Nico’s throat tighten right up.

 

It makes Nico crazy, pent up emotion swirling in his body, but it’s also _exhilarating,_ invigorating, makes Nico feel powerful, in control, _desired_.

 

It’s like playing a game with the stakes raised high, and Nico loves a good game.

 

So next time he and Jason are sitting too close on someone’s bed, Nico leans in until the air between their lips could be a plastic film, but doesn’t do anything else because they tease, they’ve been teasing, and this is the thrill of the chase.

 

He doesn’t realize his hand is fisted in his black t-shirt before Jason’s palm settles over it. “What do you want, Nico?”

 

Nico’s eyes have gone half-mast without him noticing, Jason’s smell – masculine-mint-morning – fills his nostrils, his throat is dry. He says “You. Always you.”

 

Jason kisses him then, presses him slowly into the bed with the lean weight of his body, making Nico feel protected and secure, and doesn’t do anything but kiss him for a very long time.

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> find me on the [tumblrs](gee-nx.tumblr.com)


End file.
